Zsa Zsa Gabor biography

What audiences seemed most interested in, however, was Zsa Zsa's personal life. To many, she appeared as an icon of European glamor, luxury and self-indulgence. Often portrayed as a wily seductress, she frequently appeared on television as an alluring, witty, and sometimes challenging guest who had a habit of calling nearly everyone "darling." But as a vivacious and dramatic personality, Gabor quickly became tabloid fodder,

more famous for her marriages and conspicuous wealth than for her acting abilities.

One of her most infamous incidents came in 1989, when the former beauty queen made headlines for slapping a police officer after he stopped Gabor for a driving violation. She was arrested for assault. During the trial, Gabor made remarks about the officer, who then filed a slander suit against the actress. She was sentenced to serve three days in jail in the criminal case after failing to complete the terms of her probation. The civil suit was settled out of court in 1991.

Gabor once again talked her way into trouble during her long-standing feud with actress Elke Sommer. This battle reached the courts in the 1990s when Sommer sued Zsa Zsa Gabor and Gabor's husband, Prince Frederick von Anhalt, for defamation of character and libel after the couple made disparaging remarks about the actress to several German publications. The jury found in favor of Sommer.

More legal issues surfaced in June 2005, when Zsa Zsa and her husband filed suit against Gabor's daughter, Francesca Hilton, accusing her of larceny and fraud. The actress made headlines again in 2009, when her lawyer announced that she had lost at least $7 million from investments with Bernard Madoff, the convicted investment adviser who admitted to operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.

Health Problems

Zsa Zsa began dealing with serious health problems in 2002, when she was badly injured in a car crash. She suffered broken bones, cuts, and bruises, and spent several days in a coma. It took her months to recover from the accident, but the resulting injuries left the actress confined to a wheelchair. In 2005, Gabor faced more medical issues when she suffered a stroke.

Her health began to seriously falter in July 2010, when she broke her hip and underwent replacement surgery. Soon after, she landed in critical condition after a blood transfusion. Then in January 2011, doctors were forced to amputate her right leg when an untreated blood clot led to a gangrenous infection.

On March 23, 2011, Gabor had to be hospitalized for high blood pressure when she learned of the death of actress Elizabeth Taylor. According to her publicist, John Blanchett, Gabor was distraught by Taylor's death, saying "I'm next." She experienced another health crisis that May. Gabor was taken to the hospital for a stomach infection. In October, she underwent surgery to replace her feeding tube.

Gabor's fragile health led her daughter Francesca Hilton to file suit against her stepfather, Prince Frederic von Anhalt. The two parties settled their dispute in July 2012 with von Anhalt serving as Gabor's conservator and Hilton regaining visitation rights to her mother.